Monday Morning Dolphins: Time to look at Dolphins future?

Barring an incredible turnaround that the Dolphins don’t seem capable of producing, they will end their seventh consecutive season without a playoff appearance.

As long as the Dolphins are mathematically alive they’re going to continue playing their veterans in hopes of reversing their fortunes.

But we all know how this is going to end. And that’s why the most interesting aspect of this team for the last six games is evaluating the young talent.

Undrafted rookie linebacker Neville Hewitt had his first career start on Sunday. He got after Dallas quarterback Tony Romo in the first quarter, leading to a Brent Grimes interception.

He later had his own interception and finished with two tackles and a pass defensed.

He played 57 snaps, 80 percent of the Dolphins’ defensive snaps.

Hewitt was starting at weak-side linebacker in place of Jelani Jenkins, who was out with an ankle injury.

Strong-side linebacker Koa Misi was active after dealing with an abdomen injury, but he did not play. Zach Vigil started in his place.

Hewitt said he hopes to continue to play when Jenkins returns.

“I don’t know what the plan is but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t start me if they didn’t have confidence in me,” Hewitt said. “So I feel like they probably might try a few different things, might use the both of us.”

At cornerback, the Dolphins continue to list Brice McCain as their starter on the depth chart but Jamar Taylor has opened recent games in the starting lineup opposite Brent Grimes.

Taylor and Brice McCain have struggled at times throughout the season. Taylor had some moments last week against Philadelphia, including a hard hit on receiver Jordan Matthews. But there were few, if any, standout plays against the Cowboys.

On the Cowboys first scoring drive of the game, a third-down holding penalty by Taylor allowed Dallas to keep the ball.

Later in the game, Taylor was beaten deep on another third down for a touchdown.

“I played horrible today,” Taylor said.

Brice McCain is a veteran who is expendable after the season. Taylor, a second-round pick in 2013, still has one more year left on his deal.

The Dolphins aren’t ready to give up on Taylor yet — in fact interim coach Dan Campbell was praising him pretty heavily after the Eagles game.

For some reason, rookie Bobby McCain played just one snap against Dallas. He’s been playing well. It doesn’t make sense why he wasn’t used against the Cowboys.

Miami should be giving Bobby McCain more and more snaps down the stretch. He can play outside or in the slot. He’s a realistic option to start next season or at least be the full-time nickel corner.

Miami should also think about keeping rookie Tony Lippett active. Against the Eagles, Lippett played 23 percent of Miami’s defensive snaps with Grimes out with an illness and Brice McCain injuring his knee in the game.

Lippett — a 6-foot-3 receiver-turned-cornerback — is a project but a really intriguing one. It might not have hurt to give him a few snaps against the Cowboys, but the Dolphins didn’t activate him.

A key question this offseason will be Grimes’ future. He’ll be 33 next season and count for $8.5 million against the cap.

The Dolphins will seemingly want him back but nothing is certain and they could try to restructure the contract.

At receiver, rookie first-round draft choice DeVante Parker was practically invisible again. He had just four snaps against Dallas.

The Parker case is an odd one. The offseason foot surgery slowed him down. But he’s healthy now.

The bigger issue with Parker is that Campbell said he “flashes” in practice. They think their other receivers — Jarvis Landry, Rishard Matthews, Kenny Stills and Greg Jennings — are better options.

If/when the Dolphins are officially out of the playoff picture, there’s no reason not to play Parker. If he doesn’t play down the stretch, it’s worrisome. You don’t take a receiver in the top 15 of the draft unless you think he’s a game-changing stud.

The Dolphins still don’t have a receiver with size who is a threat in the red zone. Parker needs to become that guy.

At running back, the Dolphins only had 11 carries total between Lamar Miller and Jay Ajayi. The team was playing from behind but also only had the ball for little more than 20 minutes the entire game.

Ajayi had four carries for 13 yards (3.3 ypc) while Miller had seven carries for 44 yards (6.3 ypc).

It makes sense to increase Ajayi’s workload down the stretch, especially after he missed the first seven games of the season.

Miller and defensive end Olivier Vernon are the team’s two biggest players heading to free agency. The Dolphins like Miller and he’s continued to improve, but there’s no telling what the future holds for him.

Running back is an odd position these days in the NFL. Teams don’t want to pay big money for one so it’ll be interesting to see what the Dolphins offer Miller and how much he could command on the open market.

In case Miller isn’t back next year, the Dolphins need to get Ajayi ready for a bigger role.

The same goes for defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, Miami’s second round draft choice, who could be in line for a starting spot if the Dolphins don’t bring Earl Mitchell back.

Mitchell hasn’t stood out this season and the Dolphins can release him with no financial penalty after the season.

Phillips, who played 16 snaps (23%) on Sunday, had two tackles and two pass defenses against Dallas.

For a team that had playoff aspirations and even talked about a Super Bowl run, it’s far from ideal to be talking about next year before December rolls around. But that’s the reality in Miami.